Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is the singer, guitarist and songwriter for the Brooklyn black metal band Liturgy. Born 1985 in NYC, he matriculated at Columbia University with a B.A. in philosophy. During that time he also studied contemporary composition (electroacoustics, extended techniques and a seminar with Tristan Murail) while also maintaining a close connection to the D.I.Y. Brooklyn music scene, playing in hardcore, metal and math rock bands. In 2008 he formed Liturgy, a self-christened “Transcendental Black Metal” band committed to developing and enhancing resonances between black metal and various domains of avant-garde culture: serious music, contemporary art and contemporary philosophy.

Unsound Festival New York opens with a night of distinctive female experimental artists working with sound. LA resident Julia Holter and Norway’s Jenny Hval combine avant-garde structures with music at the edge of pop, working with explicit lyrics exploring sex and gender, and subverting expectations. Holter’s Tragedy and Hval’s Viscera were among 2011′s best albums. New York cellist Julia Kent, a collaborator of Rasputina and Anthony and the Johnsons, performs solo.

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Here is where I post, at a frequency of about once a week, a list of the new music that has caught my attention that week. All of the releases listed below I’ve heard for the first time this week and come recommended.

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Nancarrow, who died in 1997, often is described as “the greatest composer you’ve never heard of”, but for Rex Lawson, who will be in charge of live performances of Nancarrow’s player piano works at a weekend-long festival at London’s Southbank Centre April 21-22, he is nothing less than a modern Bach.

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Between them, their playing history reflects a mind-boggling swath of the international creative music and free jazz scenes: the Vandermark 5, The Thing, Lightbox Orchestra, The Ex, Triage, Atomic and Scorch Trio. Let us introduce you to the three members of Ballister – Dave Rempis (sax), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). Two records into their fruitful coupling – the newly minted Mechanism is the one to watch out for now – the band flow with the fire from ghosts of past elders and get spacey and existential at just the right times. A cool breath of fresh air for one and all.